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Car crashes into home
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| Jessica Durden, 27, holds one of her Teacup Yorkshire Terriers as her brother, Walter Allen, 22, stands by her in the wreckage that was once the living room at 2903 SE County Road 245. A 2006 Pontiac crashed through the living room Sunday morning. JEFF M. HARDISON/Lake City Reporter |
Second vehicle hits home within eight-month span.
By JEFF M. HARDISON
jhardison@lakecityreporter.com
Eight months ago, a car left Columbia County Road 245 about three miles from State Road 100 and crashed through a house at 2847 SE CR 245.
At about 6 on Sunday morning, a neighbor two doors down experienced a similar event.
A 2006 Pontiac left the roadway, traveled across a small ridge, plowed through support posts on a front porch, went crashing through a living room wall and continued through another wall into a bedroom, where it came to rest in the home at 2903 SE CR 245.
Misty Burgess, 34, of Lake City was driving that car, according to records. She was not charged because she reported to the Florida Highway Patrol that she swerved to miss a dog in the road.
Jessica Durden said she probably would have been killed Sunday morning when Burgess crashed through her home.
“It’s unusual for me not to be here,” Durden said. “I had spent the night with a friend.”
The 27-year-old Lake City woman works for Hospice of the Nature Coast. Her younger brother, Walter Allen, 22, was not in the house either. He had spent the night in Gainesville.
“I’m thankful that me, my brother, the lady who was driving the car and the animals are all OK,” Durden said. “Definitely, God was watching over me.”
Four of her five Teacup Yorkshire Terriers were in the back yard at the time of the crash. “Cricket,” one of the small terriers, was inside, as was Durden’s Calico kitten “Ginger.”
The crash awoke the neighborhood.
“Neighbors thought a bomb went off when they heard it,” she said.
Will Durden and her brother continue living there? She did not have an answer Monday.
At one point, the house had been on the market to sell. Durden said she wanted to sell it to get away from the dangerous area. She has lived there for seven years, she said.
The crash eight months ago and the one on Sunday were not the only ones. Durden witnessed a semi tractor-trailer wreck on the same curve, she said.
“Everyone on this curve of CR 245 is scared,” she said. “All of the people want to sell. You can’t let your children play in the front yard. It’s too dangerous. People fly by here.”
The speed limit is 55 mph in front of her house.
The FHP crash investigator estimated damage to the Pontiac at $15,000 and to the house at $20,000, but Durden believes the damage estimate to the house is low.
Among the furniture that was destroyed was a couch, where Allen said he normally sleeps when not in his bedroom and the television.
At about 6 on Sunday morning, a neighbor two doors down experienced a similar event.
A 2006 Pontiac left the roadway, traveled across a small ridge, plowed through support posts on a front porch, went crashing through a living room wall and continued through another wall into a bedroom, where it came to rest in the home at 2903 SE CR 245.
Misty Burgess, 34, of Lake City was driving that car, according to records. She was not charged because she reported to the Florida Highway Patrol that she swerved to miss a dog in the road.
Jessica Durden said she probably would have been killed Sunday morning when Burgess crashed through her home.
“It’s unusual for me not to be here,” Durden said. “I had spent the night with a friend.”
The 27-year-old Lake City woman works for Hospice of the Nature Coast. Her younger brother, Walter Allen, 22, was not in the house either. He had spent the night in Gainesville.
“I’m thankful that me, my brother, the lady who was driving the car and the animals are all OK,” Durden said. “Definitely, God was watching over me.”
Four of her five Teacup Yorkshire Terriers were in the back yard at the time of the crash. “Cricket,” one of the small terriers, was inside, as was Durden’s Calico kitten “Ginger.”
The crash awoke the neighborhood.
“Neighbors thought a bomb went off when they heard it,” she said.
Will Durden and her brother continue living there? She did not have an answer Monday.
At one point, the house had been on the market to sell. Durden said she wanted to sell it to get away from the dangerous area. She has lived there for seven years, she said.
The crash eight months ago and the one on Sunday were not the only ones. Durden witnessed a semi tractor-trailer wreck on the same curve, she said.
“Everyone on this curve of CR 245 is scared,” she said. “All of the people want to sell. You can’t let your children play in the front yard. It’s too dangerous. People fly by here.”
The speed limit is 55 mph in front of her house.
The FHP crash investigator estimated damage to the Pontiac at $15,000 and to the house at $20,000, but Durden believes the damage estimate to the house is low.
Among the furniture that was destroyed was a couch, where Allen said he normally sleeps when not in his bedroom and the television.
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Raheem Harrington wrote on Jan 6, 2009 10:18 AM: